Comparative Analysis with a Central Case Study and Multiple Reference Case Studies: A Methodological Variant for Policy Analysis in Developing a National Space Policy

The present paper advances an innovative methodological variant of the general research approach of ‘qualitative comparative analysis among multiple case studies’, as an effective approach for policy analysis. This variant is presented as a particularly effective approach in situations that require development, and institution, of the public policy of a country pertaining to a highly specialized subject area that intrinsically stands to benefit from relevant policies and practices of other countries; and it is explicated in the present paper using the process of developing a national space policy for Sri Lanka as the sample instance of policy analysis. The key methodological innovation advanced here involves positioning that country in respect of which the process of development of a new national policy is intended to be informed by way of comparative policy analysis, as the ‘central case study’, in relation to the other multiple case studies, the latter being primarily chosen for the purpose of enabling, and informing, the cross-case comparative analysis and, hence, positioned, and referred to, as the ‘multiple reference-case-studies’. Thus, Sri Lanka, was positioned as the ‘central case study’, and three other Asian countries, namely India, Thailand and the Philippines, were selected and positioned as the ‘reference-case-studies’. This variant provides an effective methodological framework for developing the national space policies of developing countries—a contemporary need of many a developing country making its entry into the space domain.